You know the Samoa Girl Scout cookies? They are my favorite ones. I have been known to knock out a whole package in no time at all with little to no help. This is a sort of cupcake version. Well the batter tastes like Mounds if I'm entirely honest and it's too cakey to actually be a Samoa but the toasted coconut and caramel definitely give you that kind of feel. And really, how wrong can you go with chocolate, caramel and toasted coconut? I'm thinking you can't. Unless you burn the coconut, which is always a possibility at my house...The frosting has some salt in it to kind of cut the sweetness, I would start with 1/2 tsp and if you're going for the whole "salted caramel" thing increase it by taste from there.
Samoa Cupcakes
1 box dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup coconut
2 tsp coconut flavoring
Prepare mix according to package directions. Stir in coconut flavoring and mix well. Fold in coconut. Fill cupcake liners and bake. I did mini cupcakes and they took 12 minutes. Adjust your bake time accordingly.
Caramel Buttercream Frosting
2 sticks butter; softened
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. caramel topping
4 cups powdered sugar
1/2-1 tsp salt
Cream butter until fluffy. Add vanilla and caramel. Mix well. Add powdered sugar and beat until fluffy and the right consistency. Add salt and mix well. Taste and adjust salt if needed.
After frosting the cupcakes top with drizzles of caramel and chocolate ice cream topping and a little toasted coconut. You could probably make the chocolate sauce from scratch if you prefer but Hershey's was pretty good in a time crunch!
